Whitby Abbey – Yorkshire Coast – UK

Background

Whitby is a pleasant seaside town located on the Yorkshire Coast of England. This town started as a fishing village and those roots remain with fishing boats docked on the harbor and fishing nets and crab pots filling the area. Aside from the coastal attractions, this town is the site of Whitby Abbey, famous for being the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

How to get this type of shot

Normally, I use the daylight hours between dawn and dusk to scout my locations and take shots to determine what compositions work for a future return when the light is better. Unfortunately, when the last train leaves at 6pm, you have little choice but to shoot at the worst time of day photographically speaking. One type of image that I found that can actually benefit from the high contrast scene that is the result of shooting during midday sun is black and white.

I had a B&W image in mind when I saw the Abbey. The fine details and strong lines of the stone structure would be accentuated by the contrasty conditions. I shot with a polarizer to darken the sky since I knew I wanted a dark moody shot do go with the Dracula theme of the ruins of the Abbey. I shot with my Canon 17-40mm f/4 USM at 25mm and an f-stop of f/11. This resulted in a shutter speed of 1/25s, perfectly hand holdable, but I had my tripod with me so used it to get the image tack sharp to bring out all the fine texture in the stonework.

Location

The location of Whitby Abbey along the Yorkshire Coast in England (Coordinates: 54.488037,-0.607848)

Meet Mark

Mark is a scientist living in San Diego, CA. He loves being outdoors and traveling. Always with him is his Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Mark has been shooting since 2009. Join him as he documents his travels and everyday life. Learn more about Mark click here.